


Deleted Scenes from Truth, Justice, and the Lantean Way

by kisahawklin



Series: Getting old in the Pegasus galaxy [7]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: First Kiss, Kissing, M/M, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-14
Updated: 2011-09-14
Packaged: 2017-10-23 17:59:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/253205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kisahawklin/pseuds/kisahawklin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three deleted scenes from <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/251404">Truth, Justice, and the Lantean Way</a>: Rodney and Evan's date (Rodney POV), Evan and Radek's first kiss (Evan POV), the team on the beach (John POV).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rodney and Evan's date

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gblvr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gblvr/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Truth, Justice, and the Lantean Way](https://archiveofourown.org/works/251404) by [kisahawklin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kisahawklin/pseuds/kisahawklin). 



_First date's tomorrow night at the Fast and Furious double feature._

Trust Sheppard to make an email so succinct Rodney doesn't even know who his date is.

+++++

Rodney wears a nice button down with his khakis the next night. He debates bringing a flower, but it's a little awkward for the movies. He snags a box of Jujubes and a bag of M&Ms out of his stash and figures one of them should work. He's not too nervous, mostly because Sheppard's been acting so weird lately, that's more on his mind than getting through a blind date. At least he gets to see car racing movies while he's on this one. Movie night may be the most brilliant idea he's ever had. A few minutes to talk before the first movie, a few minutes to talk before the second movie, and lots of time whispering in a dark room in between. Whispering is sexy. Dark rooms are sexy too. It could be the perfect venue.

Not that he's really looking for sex. Maybe a little sex, if Sheppard sets him up with someone really hot. He probably shouldn't get his hopes up for more than that anyway; Sheppard was probably right about him being an acquired taste. He never cared about people liking him before. He still doesn't, not most people, anyway. Since he knows his team likes him, and, despite how much he bitches, Radek likes him, and his staff at least respects him, he's fine with everyone else jumping in a lake. Or the Lantean ocean, whatever.

Enough stalling. He looks in the mirror. He doesn't usually try to do anything with his hair, but it's just long enough that he probably should have gotten it cut before the date. He played around with it, and some product Sheppard gave him, but that made it all stiff and shiny, so he ended up just rinsing it out and heading out with wet hair, hoping it didn't dry too stupidly during the movies.

He hasn't even bothered to think about who Sheppard might've set him up with; it's likely he doesn't know the person anyway. He only knows thirty or forty people on Atlantis anymore, and it's not like Sheppard would set him up with anyone on his staff, or Carson, or Woolsey. Maybe Major Teldy. She is really hot, and right up Rodney's alley, though he's never said as much to Sheppard. No, Rodney thinks, Sheppard would pick from the new staff, people that don't know Rodney by reputation yet. He does wonder if it will be a man or a woman. His money's on a woman, but there's no real way to tell.

When he gets to the makeshift movie theater, he glances around at the people milling in the hallway. No Sheppard, no one obviously looking for him, no one he even knows, except that one nurse that always gets the wrinkly forehead when she's annoyed with him. Mindy? Something like that. Oh, and Cadman. As soon as Cadman sees him, she makes a beeline for him. Rodney backs away, instinctively. "No," he says. "No way Sheppard would set me up on a date with you."

"Relax, Rodney," she says, leaning across him to pick up a bottle of coke from the refreshment table. "Colonel Sheppard said no dice."

"You... you offered to go on a date with me?" Rodney asks, picking up a bottle of water and a large bag of popcorn.

"Technically, I offered to have sex with you," Cadman says.

Rodney nearly drops his popcorn. There is no way he'd ever let Cadman anywhere near his bed. "Why would you do that?"

Cadman shrugs. "To mess with you," she says, grinning. "You're pretty entertaining when you're flustered. Not to mention," she rakes her eyes up and down him, "I know firsthand what's under your clothes."

Rodney does drop his popcorn then, and Cadman laughs before turning around and waving at him over her shoulder. Rodney looks down at the bag of popcorn, kernels sprawled out like a trail to the retreating Cadman. He turns back to the refreshment table to get another bag when Lorne comes up next to him.

"Major," he says. He and Lorne have a sort of uneasy truce. He's not sure why, but Zelenka seems to like Lorne, and Sheppard definitely relies on him, so he tries to be civil, for the most part.

"Evan," Lorne says, and Rodney turns to look at him.

"Evan what?"

"That's my first name. Evan." He grins and grabs a big bag of popcorn. "Want to share?"

Rodney can't do anything but blink. He's not sure he ever knew Lorne's first name. He _is_ sure that Lorne doesn't like him very much. Up until thirty seconds ago, he was also sure that Lorne was 100% straight.

"You…" It's all Rodney can get out. He blinks, swallows, blinks some more. "You're my date?"

The room is suddenly so quiet you could hear a pin drop. One glance to his right shows everyone down the hallway staring at him and Lorne. Evan.

"Yep," Lorne says, grabbing the bag of popcorn and a bottle of orange soda. If he's ruffled by the attention, Rodney can't see it. "C'mon, let's get the good seats while they're all staring."

Lorne pulls on Rodney's sleeve, twisting around some and snapping him out of his stupor. He turns and matches Lorne's step. "Tell me you like to sit in the back."

"The better to make out during the boring parts," Lorne says, and someone giggles behind them.

+++++

Sheppard's already in the movie room when they enter. Lorne waves, and Rodney smiles at him, Teyla and Kanaan. Amelia's with a bunch of girlfriends but there's no Ronon, so he must be babysitting. Sheppard looks laid back, relaxing in his comfy chair, but his face is pinched as he watches Lorne and Rodney go by, nodding a greeting at them.

"Why is Sheppard nervous?" Rodney whispers as they sit down on a loveseat in the very back. Lorne moves the table around from the side of the loveseat to in front of them and sets down the popcorn and his drink.

"Probably because he's not sure setting us up was a good idea."

Rodney chuckles. "I'm not sure it is either. I thought you were straight."

Lorne smiles. "I get that a lot. It's easy to pass, and it was kind of necessary before."

"Right," Rodney says, frowning. He'd been sure DADT was the reason Sheppard had been pretending to be straight. It'd taken him over two years to finally admit that Sheppard actually _is_ straight. "So you're gay?"

"Bi," Lorne answers, picking up his soda and opening it. "I go through phases. Since the repeal, I've been going through a big one."

Rodney grins. "I can only imagine. Thankfully."

"Yeah, well, even with the repeal, folks are skittish. I thought there'd be celebratory sex in the hallways, big gay parties, but nothing."

Suddenly Lorne's motives become crystal clear. "So you're using this date as a way to let guys know you're available."

"Hey," Lorne says, thumping his bottle of soda down on the table where it fizzes over. "That's not true, and if you knew me at all, you'd never say that."

"Okay, so you're using this as a way to send a message to the military personnel." If this date is all for show, Rodney's leaving right now, screw The Fast and the Furious. He's the one that hooked the blu-ray player up to the Ancient projector, the least they can do is let him borrow the DVDs to watch in his room later in the week.

"Rodney," Lorne says, putting a hand on his arm. It's surprisingly warm. "I am on this date because I want to be on this date. Everything else? Fringe benefits."

Rodney still can't wrap his head around why Lorne would want to go on a date with him. "But you don't like me," Rodney says.

Lorne removes his hand and sits back, crossing his arms on his chest. "That's because when we work together you are a massive pain in my ass. Sheppard likes you, so I figured there had to be something more than what I see when you're stressed because we're all about to die. I'm starting to rethink that conclusion."

Rodney still unsure. Of all the first dates, why would Sheppard pick Lorne? He figured there'd be easy, "How are you adjusting to Atlantis?" small talk with someone he'd never laid eyes on before, not this. Not negotiating what the date even means, trying to figure out a negative history in light of new information.

"Look, Rodney," Lorne says, and only now does Rodney realize how weird it is to hear his first name come out of Lorne's mouth, "I figured I'd try it from scratch, like any other first date. There's a lot you don't know about me, I'm sure there has to be a lot I don't know about you. Let the rest of this go."

Rodney takes a deep breath and quells all the questions and arguments in his head. First date, Evan.

"Evan," he says, trying it out. "So tell me something about you I don't know."

+++++

Evan is excellent at small talk.

It's something Rodney never knew and is immensely grateful for. He starts with a big bomb – he's an artist – and goes on to talk Rodney through admitting he likes making puzzles, and that he's the one that puts up the weekly puzzles on the boards. Rodney makes him promise not to tell Sheppard, who is always the first one to complete a Sudoku whenever Rodney puts one up.

Evan asks him about Sheppard, about whether Rodney's still hanging around to see if Sheppard will change his mind; Rodney shrugs. "He's a friend. A good friend, even, and I keep thinking the rest of it will go away eventually."

"No luck so far?" Evan asks, and Rodney shakes his head. "Yeah, me neither."

"Wait, what?" Rodney asks. "Who are you friends with that you want to be more than friends with?"

Evan raises an eyebrow. "Come on, like you don't know."

Rodney shrugs. "I hardly see you. How am I supposed to know?"

"You see me when I come down to the lab," Evan says, and Rodney tries to remember any time he's seen Evan there.

"You come down to the lab?" Rodney asks, and Evan's eyes widen in disbelief.

"Okay, I guess you don't know." Evan doesn't tell him, though, just changes the subject to childhood pets.

They share stories about college – Evan was popular, Greek, and in sports, so there's a near complete disconnect until Evan says his math tutor was the first guy he ever slept with.

"He was brilliant," Evan says. "Brain the size of Manhattan, totally unable to have a normal conversation. It was always fun spending time with him, though. We were together for a year and a half."

Rodney laughs. "The first guy I messed around with was the swim team captain, in the locker room after practice."

Evan grins. "How long were you together?"

"We weren't. He punched me right afterward and threatened to kill me if I ever told anyone."

Evan makes a sympathetic noise and in a rare display of positive synchronicity, the lights go down and the previews start to show on screen. Evan reaches for the popcorn and settles in next to Rodney, their arms brushing.

+++++

Evan leans over to mutter things to Rodney as the movie goes on, mostly about the cars. Apparently he's an enthusiast, and at one point he mentions he and his dad used to fix cars up together. They bond for a moment about Vin Diesel and how he's not either of their types, but how they'd both lock him in a dark room and jack off while they made him talk to them. Then Rodney makes a joke about his name and Evan cracks up, laughing loud enough that a couple of people turn and stare.

He sees Sheppard turn, impossible to miss the silhouette of that hair, and leans in to Evan. "Want to freak Sheppard out?"

Evan grins. "It's not a boring part, though," he says, but he starts to turn his body Rodney's direction, even as he's watching Vin Diesel take Michelle Rodriguez upstairs for a massage. Rodney grabs his chin and brings his head around and Evan grins again – he's got a cute, earnest grin – before leaning in and kissing Rodney. They can still hear the sounds of the movie, and Evan breathes out through his nose at places where Rodney's sure he'd be laughing if he was still watching, but he doesn't break the kiss. Evan pushes them back into the couch, until Rodney's leaning back against the cushions and Evan has to shift his body not to be twisted in half.

The kissing isn't bad; Rodney likes kissing, and Evan's decent enough. There's no real spark, but Rodney doesn't get to make out enough to regret it. He puts a hand on Evan's rib cage to help him switch positions, and Evan makes a small sound in the back of his throat. That's a little hot, so Rodney brings his other hand up to bracket Evan's ribs between his hands. Evan makes an even louder noise, and Rodney's about to pull him closer when Evan pulls away, laughing.

"What?" Rodney asks, and immediately after, "Was this a joke, are you –"

Evan shakes his head and pulls Rodney's hands down from his ribs to his hips. "Ticklish."

He leans back in, half-covering Rodney's body with his own, the movie forgotten.

+++++

By the time they come up for air, the cops are chasing down Johnny Tran, and Evan says, "Oooh, this is my favorite part!" He flips himself over, but stays half on top of Rodney, kicking his legs over the arm of the love seat.

Rodney's not quite sure what to do with his hands; one's currently draped over Evan's rib cage and resting on Evan's stomach, and the other trapped between them. He pulls that one out and puts his arm on the arm rest. Evan doesn't seem to mind his other hand, so he leaves it, more conscious of it than the movie.

+++++

At intermission, Evan pops up off the couch and offers to get them more drinks. Rodney's still trying to feel his way around this date and around Evan, so he asks for another bottle of water, even though his is on the floor next to the loveseat, completely untouched.

Evan brings back another orange soda, a bottle of water, and a stack of napkins. "Can I have your other bottle of water?" he asks, and proceeds to clean the table where his soda overflowed earlier. Rodney shifts and something pokes his hip. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the smashed box of Jujubes and pack of M&Ms.

"Oh, ah," Rodney stammers, holding them out to Evan. "I brought snacks. I forgot."

"And I thought you were just happy to see me," Evan says, but he takes the M&Ms. They're melted together, and he offers to feed them to Rodney like grapes - which is a ploy for him to get his sticky, chocolatey fingers all over Rodney's face. "I wish I had a camera," he says.

Rodney takes a napkin and wipes himself off. "Oh, very mature."

"I know you don't require maturity in the people you hang out with. I've seen Sheppard's remote control car." He pops a couple of M&Ms in his own mouth, somehow getting chocolate on his chin in the process, and Rodney rolls his eyes and wipes it clean.

"Curses, you have thwarted my cunning plan," Evan says, doing it again, and somehow getting chocolate on his cheek. When Rodney reaches for a napkin, Evan grabs the few that are left and puts them in his pocket.

Rodney stares for a second, debating, and decides to go for it. He takes Evan's face in hand and licks the chocolate off his cheek. When he pulls away, Evan's grinning again. It really is a very cute grin.

The lights dim and Evan sits next to him on the loveseat again. Rodney lists a little sideways, until their shoulders are touching.

"I haven't seen this one, so no distracting make-outs," Evan says, and Rodney hands him a Jujube.

"Me neither," he answers, popping a Jujube into his own mouth. "But you never know, there could be boring parts."

"We can make out later," Evan says, leaning into Rodney. "I've got tomorrow off."

+++++


	2. Evan and Radek's first kiss

Evan can't quite get his body to work. Sheppard maneuvers him over to the bench, sitting him down and watching him carefully. Evan can see him talking, and he knows he's talking too, but all he can think about is the fact that he is going to kill Radek. He's going to put his hands around his throat, and... well, probably not choke the life out of him. He gave Evan advice for his date with Rodney. Evan takes a deep breath and blows it out, scrubbing a hand through his hair.

"Somone needs to tell Rodney," Sheppard says, looking miserable, and Evan's heart goes out to the guy. It must be tough to be in love with someone and not even have a clue.

"I really do like Rodney. He's not a bad guy," Evan says, because he does, and he while he knows Sheppard wants everyone to be happy, this is going to hurt Rodney's feelings something fierce.

"I know," Sheppard answers, looking Evan up and down. "I'll tell him, if you want."

"No," Evan says. "I'll do it." He needs to let Rodney know that Sheppard is the one that set these wheels in motion.

He gets up and stalks off, thanking Sheppard over his shoulder on the way out. He heads straight for the lab.

Rodney is at his station in the back, where he always is. He glances up when Evan comes in and smiles. It makes Evan feel incredibly guilty. He doesn't want to hurt Rodney, but he's not going to settle because of guilt. He's not the right man for Rodney anyway, and everyone involved in this weird love quadrangle knows it.

He sort of smiles back, a half-hearted thing, and Rodney's face wrinkles up with worry. He's out of his chair before Evan can react - Evan puts a hand up to stop him from coming over. Rodney stops and Evan glances around, looking for Radek. He's not in his usual spot, and it takes a second to find him, looking over Simpson's shoulder as she points at something on a tablet. He walks over, taking his time, though Radek's eyes are on him from the beginning. He should have noticed that sooner, that Radek was always looking at him.

"Doc," Evan says, and Radek stands up straight. Evan puts one hand on Radek's shoulder and his other on Radek's hip and shoves him backward until his back is at the wall. Radek's eyes are wide and surprised, and Evan is glad to see the shock there. He swoops in, moving his hand from Radek's shoulder to his cheek, and he brings his face closer and closer to Radek's, feeling the soft puff of Radek's breathing on his face. He wants Radek to have enough time to react, because he doesn't want to waste a second of his mouth on Radek's.

Radek gets the idea quicker than Evan had even hoped, and he surges forward to press their mouths together, blazing right through sweet and into hot and dirty. He gets his hands on Evan's hips and pulls him in, pinning himself between Evan and the wall. Evan brings his hands to Radek's shoulders, clutching them tightly and making Radek squirm under him. He finally pulls away, a little breathless, and asks, "Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

Radek looks at him in disbelief. "I didn't know until it was too late."

"It's never too late," Evan says, leaning in and kissing him again. This kiss is sweet, exactly what Evan had expected from the first kiss. He has a feeling he's going to be in for a lot of surprises with Radek.

Radek circles his fingers around Evan's wrist and pulls him toward the door of the lab. Evan glances at Rodney, to see how he's taking it, and his mouth is hanging open in surprise. When he catches Evan's eye, he closes it, looking small and hurt. Evan just mouths, "Sheppard." It doesn't make Rodney look less hurt, oddly. It makes him shift into something deeper, something Evan would bet he's still struggling to come to terms with. Rodney nods and then jerks his head toward the door.

Radek had been watching the whole exchange. As soon as Rodney gives his blessing of sorts, he yanks on Evan's arm, practically running out of the lab and to the transporter down the hall.


	3. The team on the beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team take a day off on the beach.

John brings his boogie board because there is no way he's going to be on a beach and not get in the water. Ronon sweet-talked the new chef into letting him pack them lunches (under her supervision), and he and Amelia are roasting sweet potatoes on the fire. Teyla is wearing one of the bikinis she bought while on Earth, and not one of them is even pretending not to stare. Kanaan's got Torren in the water, and he can't help glancing up where Teyla is napping on the beach every few seconds. John doesn't blame him.

Rodney's rubbing sunscreen up on himself everywhere he can reach, and when he takes off his shirt, he hands the container of sunscreen to John and presents his back. John rolls his eyes and rubs it on carelessly, leaving streaks that'll give Rodney stripes if they stay in the sun longer than an hour – and he plans to.

As soon as Rodney's back is taken care of, he takes off for the water full speed, splashing in and diving as soon as it's deep enough. The ocean is too calm for the boogie board; he'll have to make do with swimming and splash fights, which Torren starts as soon as he comes up for air.

They play around for a while, eventually getting bored and deciding they should splash Teyla and Rodney, and get them to come and play. Teyla just smiles and turns over onto her front, but Rodney gets off his towel and stomps down to where they're still splashing him. He's wet from the legs down. "Torren, not everyone likes to be splashed," he says, in a tone of voice that John is sure he's used with absolutely no effect on Madison. John kicks up a spray of water and catches Rodney in the face. Rodney attacks, splashing into the water and going into a smooth dive when the water's only shin-deep. He curls around underwater and takes John's legs out from under him and John ends up with a lungful of salt water.

"Shit, Rodney," he says as he comes up coughing.

"Shit!" Torren says gleefully, and Kanaan glares at John.

"Sorry," John says, and splashes Rodney's smug face for good measure.

"You don't want to get in a splash fight with me," Rodney says, kicking his legs up surprisingly fast and getting water in John's eye.

John coughs some more and rubs his eye. He probably doesn't, but he can't help it. "It's all physics, right?"

"No," Rodney says, doing some fancy maneuver with his arm that gets Kanaan and Torren with a sheet of water. "I've been swimming since I was two, and Jeannie can spit water with scary accuracy."

John laughs and kicks his feet up, spraying water everywhere except where Rodney's standing. "You're going down," Rodney says, grabbing John's ankle and pulling him under.

+++++

They stay in the water for a couple of hours, plenty long enough to have wrinkly fingers and for Ronon and Amelia to join them for a game of chicken (which they shouldn't have had a shot at except Rodney was better at staying planted than Ronon; John makes a note to himself to look at swimming as possible training – it may be the only thing Ronon needs some training in.

They sit around the fire and eat sandwiches and sweet potatoes, John roasting a marshmallow and putting it on top of his.

"That's disgusting," Rodney says, covering his with brown sugar.

Torren doesn't like the sweet potato, so they argue over who gets his until Teyla cuts it into quarters and hands them out to everyone, taking Ronon's back before he can grab it and popping it in her mouth. Rodney's smart and puts brown sugar on his right away, but John's just getting his marshmallow ready to roast, so Ronon steals his and takes a huge bite out of it. He offers John the half-bite that's left but John waves it off, taking out the rest of the stuff for s'mores instead.

Torren insists on the first one, and John spends an achingly long time getting the marshmallow perfectly brown on all sides and nice and gooey in the middle. By the time he's got his next marshmallow on the stick he's too impatient to make it perfect, so when it catches fire after a minute or two, he just lets it burn, squashing it between the graham crackers as soon as the fire goes out.

They go back into the water to wash the sticky off, and only Rodney stays out, swimming out to meet the mild waves and back in, some smooth stroke. John lays on his towel and watches him; the rest of them are zonked out on the beach, Amelia snoring like a beast and Teyla sleep-talking in a language John doesn't know, but that doesn't sound like Athosian.

Rodney swims a long time, several laps of the smooth stroke and then something more aggressive - not crawl, which John remembers from swimming lessons as a boy, but something more powerful and graceful. He looks like a sea creature, coming out of the water powerfully and then dipping below the waves. John thinks again that considering the city is in the middle of the ocean, aquatic training probably should have been higher on their list of things to do.

John's getting sleepy himself, especially now that Amelia's rolled over and not snoring anymore. The setting sun is warm on his face and he has a hard time keeping an eye on Rodney, who shows no sign of tiring any time soon. He sits up so he doesn't accidentally fall asleep while Rodney's swimming in an alien ocean with no one keeping an eye on him.

Rodney stops and his head bobs on the water. He waves one arm and John waves back, wrapping his arms around his knees. The wind is starting to pick up and with the sun going down, it's going to get cold in an hour or so. Rodney swims back in and climbs out onto the beach, looking a little wobbly.

"It's been a while," Rodney says, panting. "I haven't done laps like that in years."

"You looked good," John says. "You were on the team in college?"

"And on a Masters team for the first several years I was working for the Air Force. Then the work got too interesting and I didn't want to waste the hours in the pool."

John nods. Teyla rolls over and smiles at them, eyes warm. "It's getting cool," she says. Then she glances up at Rodney. "I think you have a sunburn."

"Oh," Rodney says, looking down at his shoulder and pressing a finger into it. It makes a perfect white oval and then slowly turns back the color of the rest of his skin. He frowns.

"Time to start packing up," John says, hoping to distract him. If he really is sunburned it won't become obvious until they're in the jumper and John doesn't want to listen to the whining any sooner than he has to. "C'mon, kids, we want to get back in time for the showing of TRON tonight."

They pack up haphazardly, still sleepy from their naps, and the contented silence in the jumper as they shuttle back to Atlantis is the best thing he's ever heard.

+++++


End file.
